Conclusions
by Pale Wolf
Summary: In the wake of a challenger unlike any other, a new power plunges some of the most powerful individuals on Earth onto a totally unexpected route. The Internet's first RanmaBlack Jewels crossover. Adjusted to R after I realized something.
1. Opening: Dark's Gift, Light's Curse

This is not a major update, just a little twitch to get some symbols displayed properly. Now the word stressing should work.

Disclaimer-I do not own Ranma 1/2. Rumiko Takahashi and those she's licensed do. I do not own the Black Jewels trilogy or universe. That is the property of Anne Bishop (a DAMN good writer) and her publishers. The characters of Sailor Moon also appear in this prologue. They're Naoko Takeuchi's. I have made no claim to either of these works, I'm just using them. The only things of note in this that are mine are Kagami and Azael (who doesn't even show up in the prologue). I'm not making any money from this (in fact, I'm taking a bit of a loss from doing it).

Warning-This fanfic, happening after the timeline of both Ranma 1/2 and Black Jewels, contains spoilers to both. If this troubles you, please do not read. Also, I will not censor myself. If you don't like the occasional swear (not common in this particular one, I'll admit), characters that you like getting poor treatment, or whatever else happens to pop into this, then I will not hold it against you if you stop reading. But do not complain unless it is something that can honestly make my work better. You have had the warning. You do not need to complain.

(Font specifics: "Blah" is speech. You know this.

_Boo_ is either thoughts or stressed words, depending on the context.

-This- is an interruption.

/Huzzah/ is psychic communication.

If you have trouble with this, don't hesitate to e-mail me, I don't have much better to do.)

Conclusions

By Pale Wolf

Prologue

Dark's Gift, Light's Curse

Ranma's eyes bugged out as a slender knee dug into her gut, a pale hand shoving her upper body down onto the knee with force and savagery out of context to its delicacy. The knee and hand scissored into her, flipping her up, spinning forward, into the air.

Ranma tried to axe her legs down at her opponent, but the pale 19-year old girl simply backed away, letting the redhead slam her back into the pavement. The girl tossed back her head, letting her shimmering clearish hair catch the light as an arrow of flame slammed into a wall of air around her. She grinned as she turned to face the battered Senshi, her silvery eyes glittering. "Now Mars," she began, "that was a very stupid thing for you to do." She raised her hand, a sphere of red light forming above it. "Ikari Nami!" The light pulsed, then flared out in a wide wave towards the already-hurting Senshi of Mars.

It blew her back into a storefront, and through it, heavily scorching her arms where she'd tried to block. She was no longer conscious, lying sprawled in the store as local customers cowered.

She turned back to where she'd left Ranma, her grin not wavering as she noted the martial artist's absence. She shifted her attention to Hibiki Ryouga, who struggled to stand a short distance from the dent Ranma-chan had occupied. She smirked at the 'tough' seventeen-year-old. "Get it up, boy. You this bad with your girlfriend?"

Ryouga's face contorted in rage as he leapt up and charged her.

The girl met the charge head-on, stopping and at least reversing the force with a single simple palm strike to the Lost Boy's nose. He rocketed back, slamming into a parked car like a broken doll. A disturbingly cute pout crossed her face. "Done already? I'd hoped this would be more fun."

"Hold it right there!" a new female voice interrupted, prompting the pale girl to turn and see the other eight Sailor Senshi arrayed across the top of a building, their two-ponytailed leader starting off their series of poses. "Streets are for transportation, not fighting, and cute guys are for looking at and dating, not beating up! In the name of the Moon - and my boyfriend - I'll-!"

She'd have liked to finish her speech, beat the monster, and return to the arcade, but those goals had been heavily impeded by the way the girl, so fast she practically teleported, shot up right in front of Sailor Moon's place on the building, her sudden stop tearing grooves in the roof as her hand clamped onto Sailor Moon's face. She easily swung the Senshi around with that grip, casually tossing her, face-first, into the same car that Ryouga had been knocked out on, a chuckle escaping her small, perfect lips. "Do you expect to kill me with speeches?"

The pale girl had the distinct experience of being the target of seven growling, enraged Senshi (their leader's head was embedded in a car, and she looked unconscious anyway). She smiled brilliantly, and then blazed straight through the group, throwing herself forward once past them, catching her fall with her hands and using both feet to kick at the base of Sailor Mercury's spine, throwing her forward into Pluto. An odd contorting flip put her back on her feet, and she darted aside from a World Shaking and Deep Submerge, converging on where she had stood. A _huge_ smile on her face, she bounced away as the Inners opened up, letting Uranus, Neptune, Venus, and Jupiter chase her around.

Saturn lowered her glaive, looking to Pluto as she and Mercury tried to disentangle from one another, getting in one another's way. "Pluto-mama?"

Mercury paused to blink at that, which gave Pluto the chance to pull herself free of the younger Senshi and stand. "Yes?" she queried as she finished collecting herself.

"Who _is_ that?"

Pluto sighed. "Supposedly just a normal girl. Kotetsu Kagami. But she shouldn't be that powerful. She shouldn't even want to fight us! According to the Time Stream, she's in an arcade right now!"

Saturn smiled. "Ah. Good." As Mercury and Pluto blinked, her smile turned darker. "I wasn't sure it had worked, so that's good to know." She raised her glaive, the tip charging with black light as it pointed at Pluto's chest. "Nothing personal, Time Senshi, but you're a danger to my Purpose. Death Ribbon Revolution!"

Pluto and Mercury just managed to dodge aside before the tendrils of shadow ripped into them, even as two voices chorused:

"World Shaking!"

"Ikari Nami!"

Neptune came flying back towards them, propelled by the distinctive gold sphere of her lover's signature attack. Jupiter and Venus, meanwhile, were being thrown at them off Kagami's red ki-blast.

As the three Senshi crashed to the roof, and Saturn cautiously put up her glaive, Kagami and Uranus landed, side-by-side, from a leap.

Uranus snarled at the Senshi. "Where are the others, you bitches?! What did you do with them?!"

Kagami touched her arm gently. "They don't know. They're just puppets." Fighting off a smirk, the girl extended an arm to point at Pluto. "_She_ knows. She's the leader."

Uranus smiled. "Thanks Neptune." Then she charged at Pluto, even as Saturn resumed her attack on the gaping Time Senshi.

Kagami slumped. "That's why direct control is so much better than illusions. It at least keeps them from going off on their own." She shrugged, raising her arms (although she was really just going to dodge a lot). "Oh well. Continue." Three attacks rocketed towards her at once. She ducked under them and began weaving around the follow-ups.

Pluto raised her staff to block Uranus's charge... then winced.

She'd forgotten about Saturn, and she didn't imagine she'd have a second chance...

"Silence Glaive Surprise!" She hated being a correct pessimist. The sphere of power slammed into her back, driving her forward.

Uranus took advantage of it, sneaking an arm around Pluto's neck and compressing the arteries in a sleeper hold.

Mercury took Saturn's glaive-butt in the stomach, folding over it, mostly unconscious. A light blow to the head finished her as Pluto fainted.

Uranus and Saturn whirled and charged in to pull the other Senshi off Kagami, Uranus taking on Jupiter while Venus was attacked by Saturn.

Kagami sidestepped Neptune's next Deep Submerge, darting in with an arcing palm strike for the Senshi's temple. It connected and knocked her out, and, bored, Kagami tossed a minor psychic attack at all four still-active Senshi, knocking them out. She chuckled, forming an extreme-low-power communication. /Go ahead. I'm done with them./

"Mouko Takabisha!" Ranma shouted.

Not from in front.

Not from behind.

Not from the sides either.

From below. The ki-ball tore the roof out under her, slamming into her legs and tossing her up into the air.

Kagami twisted to regain control of herself as Ranma lept from inside the store to land on the roof. Ranma refrained from any cheap shots, simply coiling herself into a speed-conducive stance.

Kagami landed lightly on the other side of the gaping hole in the roof, dropping into a loose stance of her own, frowning. "You have far more lethal attacks. I'd have survived, but why didn't you try to kill me?"

The redhead snorted inelegantly. "You're not here to kill. If you were, you woudn't have bothered leaving those girls in skirts alive."

Kagami shrugged, then sprang towards Ranma, who grinned and jumped to meet her.

They met in the center with a flurry of punches and kicks, while everything was blocked or dodged.

Slowly, Ranma's experience in midair combat began to tell, the martial artist catching Kagami's fist as it drew back. The pale girl smirked, and Ranma winced as both of them fell.

Kagami's fist uncurled and the hand clamped onto Ranma's wrist. Then she used that grip and her insane strength to twist them around so her legs were facing Ranma. The kicks began, coming in at a ridiculous speed, using the leverage of Ranma's arm to amplify their force (rather than just send them flying apart).

Ranma struggled to adjust her own angle as Kagami's kicks pounded into her small body. She was, unfortunately, unable to stretch either of their arms enough to do so.

As they fell through the hole in the roof (into a jewelery store), Ranma finally tugged her arm free... just in time for Kagami to kick her in the chin with both legs, blowing her back, head first, into a display window.

While Kagami landed in fine condition, Ranma took a nasty hit to the head, and slumped brokenly to the ground.

Kagami shook her head, turned towards the reddish-brown haired girl standing behind the counter, and shrugged. "You're insured, right?"

Osaka Naru blankly nodded.

Kagami grinned and raised her hand, the air in front of her twisting into a swirling black hole.

"You haven't won yet," Ranma growled from behind her. "Saotome Ranma doesn't lose!"

Kagami turned her head, keeping her arm and most of her attention on the black hole. She grinned. "That would sound more impressive if you could stand straight."

Indeed, Ranma was barely even standing, shaking and staggering as she tried to raise her arms. Then she stumbled, landing on her face. "If I could move a muscle without extreme pain," she commented into the floor, "I'd beat the shit out of you."

Kagami shrugged with a smile, turning back to work on her hole.

"Why?" Ranma whispered. "Why did you challenge us to this fight?"

Kagami looked back at Ranma. "Practice," she chirped.

As she turned back to the black hole, a silvery-gold object flew out of it, straight into her hand. She opened the hand and grinned at the object's new, blacker-than-black colour.

Then a swarm of identical objects rocketed out of the hole, shooting past Kagami. Gritting her teeth, the girl forced her way through the hail of... jewels? She lept into her hole, and the air twisted back into a normal state, sealing shut the hole.

The last of the jewels had slammed into Ranma's gut, throwing her right back into the display case. She looked down... then yelped as bolts of black energy began crossing her body.

Across the store, Naru twitched, her own scream joining in with the screeching energies, gray bolts playing across her. It didn't go on for long before the energy stopped and Naru slumped, clutching the now-gray jewel she'd caught from hitting her face.

Ranma, on the other hand...

Fighting back the scream welling up in her throat, Ranma convulsed, limbs and body slamming into the display case with discharges of black energy contributing to the damage even as they reshaped her body. She finally did scream as her body lengthened, increasing her height, while additional muscle mass joined what was already there. Her face grew, losing its 'cute'ness, maturing into beauty, while streaks of midnight black shot through her red hair. She struggled to end her still-ongoing scream, finally clamping her mouth shut as the black lightning subsided, weakly raising the once-silver-gold jewel that had hit her, now coloured a deep, comfortable, too-dark black.

Next Chapter! Two demons break out of a prison beneath the Vatican, as women the world over are remade by the jewels. But remade into what? Ranma discovers she can't change back into a boy. How? And what was Kagami practicing for?

Author's Notes (The thing to skip if you just don't care what I have to say.) E-Mail is at miraclewolf at 

Welcome, one and all (which is probably the same thing), to my first submitted fanfiction, and the _very_ first Ranma/Black Jewels crossover on the Internet (believe me, I checked). I am Pale Wolf. Let me get one thing clear right away:Kagami is not a self-insert-type, or anything like that. She beat Ranma, yes, but s/he worked for every iota of skill and power s/he has. Kagami has a huge natural advantage that completely overpowered every drop of Ranma's effort. And in the air, Ranma _did_ have more skill, and might've won if s/he hadn't gotten overconfident. Also, please note that quite a bit of beating went on before the start. When it's not a spoiler, I'll go more in depth on why I brought her in. And no, she will _not_ be the RanmaMatch(tm). And the Sailors? They show up a lot in my stories simply because they're a convenient device. My portrayal of them varies incredibly. Sometimes I'm nice. Sometimes they're just nuisance prancing justice freaks with a hell of a lot of firepower (their usual cameo persona). This is the one that varies the most. And sometimes they are... still prancing justice freaks (no amount of kindness will change that) but serve as major antagonists. Look for Darklight whenever I get it out, and another story that yet has no name, for examples of this. (Saturn usually gets the nicest treatment anyway-I think she's got more sense than most of the Senshi, I like her, and the series put her through multiple hells, so she deserves a break. You disagree? Deal. Or contact me and we'll work it out.)

Now, if you don't know Black Jewels, you'll be confused beyond belief. Fear not, your primer is coming. If you do know Black Jewels, you'll still be confused, but you'll at least understand some things you otherwise wouldn't have. Now, since the information provided on this is a little sketchy, I made stuff up to work with what I knew. And yes, Ranma is a Black. A _Birthright_ Black. Jewels readers should know what this could mean. Also, this may not be clear (although if I've done my job right it should be), but Kagami challenged Ranma and Ryouga, and Mars got involved when seeing her beating the tar out of them.

My profile has my list of promises, and I don't feel like repeating them, so just note that if anyone wants to help my writing, such as pre-reading or revising, then you just need to contact me. And I apologize for any problems with this. Like most of my posts (until I get a pre-reader) it's the first draft. If you don't get anything, feel free to e-mail me and I'll see if I can explain without spoilers.

November 5, 2004-This is just a minor revision: slight cleanup on the language and minor twitches. These twitches? One: I changed Ranma-chan's new hair colour. That's it. Two: After going over the Black Jewels Trilogy, I realized I had to adjust Ranma's power level, so I changed the Birthright Jewel she got.


	2. Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

Disclaimer-Nothing is mine. This is a fundamental truth, and unlike John Locke, I believe laying claim to things in such a manner is what destroys society. Political opinions aside, the only things in this story I could reasonably lay claim to are Azael and Kagami, as well as Daemonar's adult self, and the story that I managed to craft with all of these characters and concepts that are not mine.

Warning-Spoilers for Ranma and Black Jewels. Swearing. I said otherwise in the prologue, but Azael and Ranma just took me there: I had no say in it. Characters will act as I think they'll act. They'll get treated however they're treated by other characters acting as I think they'll act. If this disagrees with your own opinions, then I'm afraid you'll have to either debate with me so well as to change my mind, or simply not read. Violence. Mostly implied, and rather mature subjects may come up. You're reading an R fic, I didn't rate it there because I felt like it.

(Font specifics: "Blah" is speech. You know this.

_Boo_ is either thoughts or stressed words, depending on the context.

-This- is an interruption.

/Huzzah/ is psychic communication.

If you have trouble with this, don't hesitate to e-mail me, I don't have much better to do.)

Conclusions

By Pale Wolf

Chapter One

The Beginning of the End

Daemonar Yaslana's eyes narrowed. /Hey, Azzy, you smell that?/ he queried on an Ebon-Gray thread.

Azael Angelline's presence unfolded just outside Daemonar's outermost mental barriers with the psychic equivalent of a snort. /I hope that was rhetorical, Bookworm./ The slender, muscular 'young' man leaned forward onto the plastic wall of his suite-like cell, his golden hair rustling over his lightly tanned skin and narrow, fine-looking face.

Daemonar leaned onto the plastic window across from his cousin, stretching out his large, dark-membraned wings. His powerful frame, dressed in gray leather, combined with his short-cropped hair and golden eyes, almost served as a foil to his small, slim, black-cotton-clad cousin with the longish gold hair and the large golden eyes. /I still think 'Bastard' and 'Prick' are better./

/But taken. If there are Blood here-/

/Besides us./

Azael nodded. /But if they're here.../

Daemonar grinned. /Then it's time to check out of this inn./

Azael finally opened his mouth to say, "Indeed it is. Indeed it is." He called in his fingerless gloves (set with chips from his Jewels) and wire-wrought rings, adorned with his Gray.

Daemonar called in his Red pendant. "Center of the Winds?"

Azael smirked. "Where else?" He raised a hand, long sharp black-painted nails reflecting the light, then cut down, slicing apart the wall meant to hold him in. He stepped out, vanishing the contents of his room behind him. "Pathetic little 'prison'."

Daemonar simply blasted a hole in his own cell and stepped into the corridor between them. "You can't fault their location, though. It's uncharacteristically intelligent of them. Not even the Black Wind touches this place."

"I could handle a jump from here, actually."

"Possibly, but you're unique, Packrat."

Azael raised a blond eyebrow. "A better nickname, maybe, but where'd it come from?"

Daemonar blinked. "You packed your whole room and you're asking me that?"

He snorted. "Whatever. Get your books and let's go."

And then the corridor's main door opened, and exorcists poured in, clutching their religious paraphernalia, from bibles to crosses. One, in a Cardinal's red robes, looked like the leader.

Azael smirked. "You're a little late. Shouldn't you have been here when we first got out?"

The Cardinal -a Frenchman named Michel Charest- glared. "My men are not fools, devil. They had to organize to destroy you once and for all."

Daemonar blinked. "Question. I've never been quite clear on this, and you keep changing how you address us. Are we demons, demonspawn, servants of the Devil, or the Devil himself?"

"Make fun if you want, creaturse of darkness, but you will not escape this holy place."

Azael had a soft smile-too soft-as he stepped towards the priests in a smooth glide. His voice was soft and smooth, like a well-honed blade parting flesh. "I'm going to reveal something to you. We stayed down here for the last few centuries because we had nothing better to do. 'Escape' attempts every so often helped relieve my boredom, Daemonar could sit around reading forever. But now we _want_ to leave. And, as a side note, none of your terms for us are quite accurate. 'Creature of darkness' was close, but 'children of the Devil' was your best guess." He smirked. "Technically, we're his grandchildren. Kiss kiss." Then he wrapped himself in the usual four shields- sight, sound, psychic, and protective. He was his father's son.

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"Kiima! Kiima!"

Moaning with the ache, she slowly levered herself up off the floor, sighing in relief as she got off of her wings. "What the f-?" As her eyes drifted open, she cut herself off, seeing her lord's worried face. "What happened?"

The 12-year-old reincarnate shook his head. "I don't know. That thing hit you, you fell and started shaking and glowing and changing and-"

Kiima gently raised a hand. "I understand, my lord. You needn't worry, I'll be fine." She smiled. "You've aged again, I see." The ancient boy looked downcast all of a sudden. "My lord? What's wrong?" She'd taken the Jusendo incident very seriously. The individual that Saffron had become was _not_ the king she swore eternal loyalty to, for all that he wore his face, memory, and power. Trying to avoid that happening again, she'd chosen to raise this Saffron as a normal child (who happened to age however he wanted and have a few millenia of memories, rulership, and oodles of power over her) rather than spoiling him.

"A-after you fell, another thing hit Cumin, and she was hurting and screaming and thrashing and I panicked and grew so I could hold her down and keep her from hurting herself-"

"Is she all right?!" She tried to shoot to her feet, but cramped up and fell back down to her knees. Kiima hadn't planned on it, but she'd developed quite and affection for the little girl, Saffron's best friend.

Saffron nodded. "I got her mom to take her home, she's okay."

"Then what...?" Her eyes widened. By aging, not only had a gap appeared between them, but he'd just reminded everyone that he wasn't just the happy little boy he'd been for the last year.

She leaned forward and drew him into a hug-one that he tightly returned.

She hated Saotome Ranma more than any other human being, but she had no idea how to thank him for giving her another chance as a mother-she was sworn to the sword and the crown, between them finding someone to give her a child was the most distant possibility.

Unseen by any, she narrowed her pale lavender eyes. But if Saotome dared lay a hand on her child... She'd kill him. She didn't know how she could do it, but she would make him bleed, suffer, and die.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Daemonar popped back out of his cell and cast an appreciative eye over the mess scattered through the hall. Azael was certainly creative. Not seeing any identifiable remnants of the Cardinal, he had to guess that the blond had his mother's touch.

As the blood seeped across the floor towards him, he formed a plane of force under his feet and raised himself above the ground. He walked across the air to his cousin, who was himself observing the carnage with his usual eye towards improvement. "There were distinctly less brutal ways of getting out. Still touchy about that last execution attempt, I see."

Azael gave him a flat stare. "They tried to shave me. I have uses in mind for my cock, thank you very much."

Daemonar raised an eyebrow, then turned his attention to a corpse that looked particularly... filleted. "While the particular use you're thinking of is, assuming it all works out, a rather pleasing thought, the fact that it's you sours it." He glanced around. Definitely had his mother's touch. The walls and ceiling were splattered. "Where's Cardinal Charest, anyway?"

Azael smirked and waved his arm in a wide gesture. "Around. Got your 'unholy' books?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Want some more? This Vatican place's library is mostly worthless, but they might've got something good since our last breakout."

Daemonar snorted. "Yeah. Right. I know you've been monitoring just like I have, they haven't had anything worth reading for the last couple of centuries."

"Well then, that leaves us with one question. The easy way or the messy way." There was a disturbing light in his eyes.

Daemonar studied him. "Mother Night. You're in rut." Azael nodded. "Then I'll let you direct that towards _other_ people. Messy. And leave me some, if you can."

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Saotome Ranma groaned as delicate hands shook her. It wasn't exactly comfortable, where she was sleeping, but she was _tired_, goddammit! She felt for where the disturbance was-funny, she found it so easily- and lashed out to knock it away. Not full-out, never full-out, but certainly enough to knock it back a few feet, alert it to her displeasure.

That's why a loud and fast-diminishing scream shocked her into awareness, and she gaped as the girl who'd been tending the jewelery store flew back... through the wall... across the street... through another storefront... and she still didn't seem to be slowing.

Pushing thought aside, Ranma _acted_. She ran forward- faster and more powerfully than should've been within even the wider range of human ability that Ranma was aware of, but she just took that into account and filed it away for later attention. Her world turned empty for an instant, then rose back into view. Postponing the figuring out of what had happened for later, she reoriented herself, then snagged the incoming girl from the side, spinning in place to burn up the last of the momentum. (Just catching her and stopping would apply almost as much force as the initial hit, and Ranma, although not complaining, wasn't quite sure how the girl even survived a hit as strong as Ranma had felt it to be.)

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Azael's jaw dropped. "Mother Night..."

"And may the Darkness be merciful," Daemonar added, looking around at the abyss surrounding them, the sense of an ocean that wanted to fill the gap occupied by the cousins. Riding the Winds darker than his own Ebon-Gray always made him nervous. If Azael's shield faltered for even a second, he stood a good chance of being broken... even mind-broken. He only suppressed a shudder at that thought through long-held confidence in Azael. "What's up?"

Azael shook his head. "Somebody just dumbed out the Winds."

Daemonar blinked. "Then... why didn't I feel it?"

A little smirk played at the young man's lips. "Because, my friend, she went a little deeper than me."

Daemonar repeated Azael's dropping jaw and "Mother Night" sentiment.

That damned smirk was still there. "Way east, about ten minutes by the Ebony from Ebon Askavi."

"They call it Phoenix Mountain."

"I know. She wasn't even in for a second, but I caught a whiff of her scent. Just a whiff, but uniquely dark. She's our blade."

Daemonar frowned. "Whatever she could do for us, she's still a living, breathing being."

Azael stroked one of Daemonar's membraneous wings, fully aware of how sensitive they were. "I meant 'blade' in your Eyrien sense, Bookworm. She'll do what she wants to. We just make it possible. And in return, we ask for one thing that she might want to do anyway."

He raised an eyebrow. "That make it easier?"

A sleepy glaze came into Azael's eyes, and Daemonar shuddered. "I serve our Queen. Our blade will do as she pleases, with knowledge we will give her. We are not a charity Daemonar, and I will not leave our task undone." The coldness faded, and he smirked. "I wear the Gold. And we're about to arrive, so relax. You know I don't like distributing the work, but we don't have the power alone. And I won't manipulate our blade, I'll ask her when the time comes." Then they dropped into physicality.

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"What's the problem, Ami? Have you figured out what happened to Haruka and Hotaru?"

Mizuno Ami rubbed her stomach and looked across the shrine table at Hino Rei. Hotaru hit _really_ hard. She flipped open her pocket computer. "You know that surge of darkness you felt?"

Rei slowly nodded. She'd recovered soonest, having been first to get knocked out. "What does that have to do with Haruka, Hotaru, and catching and stopping that bitch?"

Setsuna drifted in through the door to the shrine's inner areas. "We should let her speak." Rei shot her a glare. "Kagami is a priority, but we can't afford to ignore anything right now."

"Don't sneak up like that! What about the others?"

Setsuna rubbed her neck. "Hotaru, Haruka, Makoto, Minako, and Usagi are still out. Michiru is keeping an eye on them. Ami, what did you find?"

Ami nodded, raising her computer. "There has been a _massive_ upswing in Dark power worldwide."

Setsuna's eyes narrowed. "Clarify that."

"Umm... There are about ten thousand powerful new Dark signatures in the world."

Rei raised an eyebrow. "I can feel that capitalization. Why?"

Ami blushed. "It felt right."

Setsuna cleared her throat. "You said 'powerful'. How powerful?"

Ami's face cleared. She was deadly serious now. "Not a single one is weaker than the generic monsters, our applied power level. The three strongest... each of them is quite a bit stronger than Serenity with the Silver Crystal."

Rei warded herself, both against the thought of that much power, in anyone, let alone an enemy, and also Setsuna's visible expression of emotion: slack jaw and eyes wide.

Setsuna quickly composed herself. "Where are those three?"

Ami winced. "The weakest of them is in a nearby ward of Tokyo. Nerima. The middle one appeared out of nowhere in Italy, Rome, about an hour ago, but is now in China's Qinghai Province. The strongest... it's in Juuban, just outside of the Osa-P jewelery store."

Rei shot to her feet. "Then let's go!"

Setsuna shot her a scathing glare. "Don't be stupid, Rei. Only half the Senshi are even conscious, _counting_ Endymion, our two strongest are still out, _and_ we can't be sure what is going on with Uranus and Saturn. Let's _not_ go up against an enemy stronger than us at our prime." Ami timidly raised a hand. "_What_?!"

The genius, impressively, didn't shrink back. "I have some readings on Haruka and Hotaru. There was an energy overlap between Kagami and them- Kagami's energy was overlaid over both of them. Based on their behaviour, I think that this is some form of mental manipulation. There are currently no traces of Kagami's dark energy in either of them, so I think they should be fine when they wake up."

Rei nodded. "Fine. _Look_, Setsuna, we've fought enemies stronger than us before, and-"

"No. We haven't."

"What about Galaxia?" Ami queried. "Or Pharaoh 90?"

Setsuna sighed and took a seat. "You don't have the experience with the computer's readings to realize. The computer said the the weakest of the new readings was on par with our _applied_ power. That's how much we use, partially because we don't have the bodily ability to handle our true power, and partially for... other reasons."

"This is a crisis, Setsuna-san," Ami stated, meeting the Time Senshi's eyes. "We can't afford your semantics and secrecy. What do you _mean_ we don't have the bodily ability, and what are the other reasons?"

Setsuna shut her eyes, sighed, nodded, and opened them again. "You're right. I'm trying to be forthcoming, ever since that fight with Kagami proved that the Time Gate isn't working right. What I mean by 'bodily ability' is just that. The human body isn't meant to handle planet power, _and_ you don't have the experience with it, which is the whole reason for the limiters we have built in. If we go at overly high power levels, we will experience a degenerative effect on our bodies. And at full power... that's the other issue."

"Just say it!" Rei snapped.

"Limiters off... any of us could destroy a planet. Hotaru's just the only one who can do it and not notice. The planet just won't survive us at full power, and neither will we. Your computer's comparison of the strongest was the Silver Crystal at full power. To defeat 'stronger' enemies, we've just loosened the limiter. We win by power more than strategy, and that's just not an option this time. We _have_ to think."

Ami nodded. If thought was involved, she could certainly make more of a contribution than in the usual slugging matches that Senshi business devolved to. "I agree. I think we should go after the middle-power ones first. The stronger ones are too dangerous, and we can take the weaker: our full power was put well above all but a hundred of the new signatures. This will be risky, but I think we can do it. Final decision goes to Usagi, though."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nabiki frowned, fingering the amber-coloured jewel in her hand. What the fuck were these things? They'd come out of nowhere and slammed into her and her sisters, and none had escaped unchanged. She looked down into the hand mirror she'd brought down from her room with a sardonic smirk. _That_ was still the face everyone in Nerima knew and feared. Of course, nobody would recognize the internal changes she could _feel_.

It was like Mousse putting on his glasses (rare though the event was)- everything seemed sharper, more apparent, and there was this sense of power to everything, even the beating of her heart, the pumping of her blood.

Her senses... There was a new awareness in them, too. She could feel many times her own power from Kasumi, who was following some wierd set of instincts she'd picked up, examining all of her ingredients, herbs, and spices. Kasumi stepped out of the kitchen suddenly, placing her own sky-blue jewel into a pocket in her housedress.

"Nabiki-chan, I'm going out to the market," she commented as she headed to the door.

Nabiki frowned. "You might not be safe. Should I call Akane to keep an eye out for you?"

Kasumi paused in slipping on her shoes and shot a level look at her sister. "Nabiki. I have gone to the market alone at least once a week for the past decade, and I haven't been hurt yet. I will be fine." She finished getting into her shoes and stepped out the door.

Nabiki frowned. Something about her had cried against letting her elder sister out without protection. It annoyed her even more that she had listened, but... it had been so overwhelming.

Akane had changed too. By a far wider margin than Kasumi over Nabiki, the youngest daughter was stronger than the other two put together. When they'd woken up about twenty minutes ago, Akane had instantly gone over to the dojo to break bricks and keep in a temper to beat Ranma when he came back. Of course, she'd had to quit when, in smashing the first set of bricks, she'd blown such a large crater in the dojo floor that it was hard to find any actual wooden, intact, flooring. She'd called her friends over, apparently Yuka and Sayuri had both been hit by those wierd jewel-things, and were coming to visit. Akane waited upstairs.

Nabiki checked off another name on her list and reached for the phone. Soun and Genma had disappeared after the jewels had hit, and Ranma and Ryouga still weren't back. None of her contacts had yet seen them. In Ryouga's case, this was understandable, but Ranma? Never. The boy was nigh-impossible not to notice, whatever the gender. And he _always_ returned. He should've been back from that duel by now.

--------------------------------------------------------

"Typical. Just _typical_. You'd _think_ losing a fight, gettin' hit by this black thing, _plus_ losin' control of my strength would be enough..."

Osaka Naru frowned. What was that redhead (...stripehead?) so worked up about now? How much _more_ wrong could this whole situation get with a simple trip to the bathroom?

"... but nooo, the fuckin' kami just never get tired of playin' with," here her voice... tried to mimic a deep bass, "Saotome Ranma, 'Man Among Men'."

Naru blinked. 'Man Among Men'? Ranma was a tomboy for sure, but _ far_ too well-endowed to ever be mistaken for a man. And even if she somehow managed _that_ feat, she was still easily beautiful enough to have pretty much any heterosexual male questioning his own sexuality. Naru was rather jealous, actually.

She was still ranting. "... nothin' else, they changed this stupid body _again_! I mean, jeez, most people just have _one_ body in their lives! I'm on my _third_!"

Naru nodded. That made a certain amount of sense. The redhead might not have noticed how much she'd changed before seeing herself in the mirror. She rubbed her sternum. The girl certainly hit hard... in fact, the bone was almost _dented_. But considering the prolific stream of apologies for just hitting her, she probably shouldn't mention it.

Naru was no expert on the human body. Therefore, she couldn't have been expected to know that that blow would've put a hole through Ryouga and probably broken the rest of his body like an overripe watermelon upon contact with another surface.

"... just that, now I'm _stuck_ in this one! And," she took a moment to breathe deeply and raise her right hand. There was something... off... about it. "I have a fucking claw!"

Naru blinked and peered closer at the hand. Wierd, she was right. There was a visible, razor-sharp projection extending from the ring finger. It was more pointed and tubular than edged and hooked- a stabbing claw rather than a slashing claw. Nasty-looking regardless, and clearly deadly, its tip glistening.

Apparently having voiced her current concerns with life, Ranma quickly relaxed. She grinned sheepishly at Naru. "I introduced myself, right?"

Naru nodded. "Yes, Ranma."

"Not properly." Ranma extended her right hand... then glanced at the claw and extended her left instead. "You probably shouldn't touch that, I think I'm poisonous. Anyway, I'm Saotome Ranma, and I was _born_ male."

Naru's glance dropped to Ranma's... rather prominent chest. "Umm..."

Ranma smirked. "Got hit with a curse two years back. I get hit with cold water, I turn into a girl, hot water turns me back into a guy." She shot a glare into the bathroom. "Normally." She turned her attention back to Naru, wiggling her still-extended hand.

Naru shrugged and took the hand, shaking it, then gave Ranma a bow. "Pleased to meet you, Ranma. I am Osaka Naru."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're surprisingly acceptin' of such a crazy story. And thanks for lettin' me use the bathroom, even if the stupid thing didn't work."

Naru grinned. "I'm used to wierdness." She pulled the gray jewel out of her pocket and frowned at it. "But I've never had _this_ happen. I feel... something... welling up inside me."

Ranma snorted. "Try a bit of trainin' in chi. I can feel so much power, I'm fucking scared."

Naru frowned. "How strong?"

"You could probably nuke the planet and make it back in time for breakfast."

Naru's jaw dropped and her eyes bugged out.

"I'm many times that." Naru fainted. Before she hit the ground, Ranma caught her. She gently hefted the girl into her arms and began walking around the inside of the store, looking for somewhere comfortable to put her down. "And that scares me more than anything else," she added to herself.

She spotted a couch and laid Naru onto it. As she was carefully extricating her limbs, something touched her mind. It was the same kind of sensation as when Kagami had contacted her in the fight. But the thought sent, the message, was different, and so was the one who sent it. Deeper and darker, it resonated with something far within her.

/If you can hear this, you will find your answers at Phoenix Mountain. I am coming./

Next: Chapter 2! The situation escalates, as demon hunters fixate on the changed women across the world. A single figure hops around the world to save them, but one man can only cover so much territory. And _what_ _happened_? What are they?

Author's Notes (You should know the drill. Just what I say when the story itself doesn't burn out my long-windedness.)

E-mail to contact me: miraclewolf at 

All things you don't understand will be explained. Particularly all the stuff with the powers, that's what the next little chunk of the story is for. No offense meant to French people for the Cardinal, I just had to give him a vague bit of specifics, and that was the first one that popped up.

Don't worry about the psychotic power levels. Just because Ranma can fry many many planets without difficulty, doesn't mean s/he's not going to be challenged. I know enough about balancing power levels to handle that. In Black Jewels, immense numbers can threaten the powerful characters. And, unlike there, there will be powerful antagonists in this story. And languages: what's spoken is what's appropriate for the area and people (ie. Latin in the first scene), unless otherwise mentioned. The usual instant translation effect.

I need to get this out. Due to various issues, I'll be playing it cautiously with this story. One: new stories set in the Black Jewels universe are on the way, one of which in particular has the potential to completely debunk one thing I'm going to use here. If it does, count it as an alternate universe. Two: Jaenelle's lifespan-she's not from a long-lived race, but I'm figuring since she's pretty much a living deity, she can age however she likes. But 'Kaeleer's Heart' may completely scrap that, I don't know. I'll be honest. My confidence to keep this story going has taken a hit. I'll probably get back to work on it, but my focus will be shifting for a while, I think. Maybe. Anyway, don't count on this being updated next. Even if it is, some things will _not_ be written until I've had a chance to read Dreams Made Flesh. That's probably in 2005. Don't worry though, I still have quite some distance to cover before I need that info, and I'll work on it.

Thanks go to Rmorletd and ranger5 for helping this not suck!

Major note to anyone: if you know Ranma, or Black Jewels, and find any errors, contact me. I have Black Jewels right here with me, but I'm certainly not perfect, and if you spot an error, I'll certainly go to an effort to correct it.

Pronunciation Guide: I apologize for needing this, but Ms. Bishop decided to make some of the pronunciations in Black Jewels pure madness. I'll fill this in as applicable names show up.

-Azael- Pronounced 'A-zayl'. Hard 'a'.

-Daemonar- Pronounced 'Day-mon-ar'. Same case.

(Feminine names with the 'ae' cluster are a soft 'a'. If Azael were female, name would be pronounced 'Azalle', or 'Azelle'. I haven't quite figured out the handling of it when the 'ae' is later in the word, but I'll explain the moment I figure it out. I _think_ it's 'Azalle'.)

-Eyrien- Pronounced 'Ear-ee-en'.


End file.
